Search Documents

By Robert T. Gdagher, Allison Butts

EDUCATIONAL trends as reflected in curricular changes are of interest and importance in engineering educa¬tion both as matters of record and as considerations for the future. The data on which the evidence of this report is based were obtained by sending questionnaires to all schools in the United States granting the undergraduate degree in mining engineering, metallurgy, or metallurgical engineering. The questionnaire had two parts, one inquiring as to the general nature of revisions made or planned, and the other asking for information on specific courses added to or dropped from the curriculum, or given more or less time than formerly. The frequency with which curricular changes are made, even in normal times, is notable. Although it was expected that the period since 1939-40 would show numerous revisions, it was somewhat surprising to find that of 62 mining or metallurgical curricula in existence in 1939-40 and reported in the present survey, 58 had been revised or are shortly to be revised, 52 having already been changed during this period. Moreover, approximately half of the mining schools that have already revised their curricula, and probably a similar proportion of the metallurgical schools, are about to make further important changes.

Jan 1, 1948

By Harlowe Hardinge

AN extensive recent trip throughout the mining districts of the Southwest, Central West, an Northwest,' reveals a numbes of interesting conditions that have influenced operators, in both large and small mills, to modify their flow sheets insofar as they pertain to crushing and grinding. The changes made and planned for the future should be of interest. It is interesting to note when traveling through the country, how ideas change and practice is modified, and it is rather amusing to see how milling methods seem to run, more or less, in cycles. New ideas and developments are brought about which run through the industry and are taken up by many of the best and most well informed operators. Some of them will change, sooner or later, back to their old practice; for, like everything .else, what will work well in one place will not necessarily be suited to another. On the other hand, it is often difficult to establish. other practices known to be of value, owing to the natural resistance to make a change, but on the whole, the western mill men seem to be more alive to possible benefits of various modifications than any other engineers with whom I have come in contact in all parts of the world. Mill men in other parts of the world always keep in con- tact with what is being done in the western part of the United States, but it does not necessarily follow that those in the western part of the United States are always right. Some of these changes that have been made and afterward abandoned will be referred to later.

Jan 1, 1929

By AIME AIME

THE iron and steel activities of this meeting opened on Monday morning with the steel melting session," with G. B. Waterhouse in the chair and A. L. Feild as vice-chairman. N. A. Zeigler's paper, on "Gases Extracted From Iron Carbon Alloys by Vacuum Melbing," created considerable interest and the discussion in general was most favorable. H. W. Gillett and Louis Jordan of the Bureau questioned the method of analysis for oxygen and C. H. Herty, Jr., and J. M. Gaines, Jr., I , expressed their surprise at the large amount of oxygen with the high ,carbon alloys. Whether the gases found existed as gas in blowholes or as oxide inclusions was also a moot point. A paper by C. D. King, on "Basic Open-Hearth Yields," was an extremely interesting and valuable contribution. It was discussed by C. E.Kinney and A. L. Feild and numerous questions were asked throughout the presentation. Mr. King then presented a critical analysis of the losses together with novel methods of calculating them. A paper by C. H. Herty, Jr., and J. M. Gaines, Jr., on "Unreduced Oxides in Pig Iron and Their Elimination in the Basic Open-Hearth Furnace," followed. The question of silicates and oxides in pig iron created much discussion, notably by Henry Hanson and W. J. MacKenzie, who gave figures on chipping cost as a function of blast-furnace practice.

Jan 1, 1929

By H. C. Fowler, G. B. Shea

MODERN industry's incessant demands for increased operating efficiency and lower costs require that hazards attending all occupations be reduced to a minimum. Reduction of the inevitable losses that result from accidents and injury to the worker is one of the important economic problems confronting industry today and is the basis for the widespread safety movement. Dr. Charles E. Munroe, chief explosive chemist of the U. S. Bureau of Mines, is father of the statement, "The existence of a nuisance is evidence of an economic waste." This pointed expression of the internationally recognized scholar and explosives engineer has a direct relation to the prevention of accidents. Every injury and death in industry is a waste in human endeavor and a lessening of productive gain. Dr. Munroe has aptly paraphrased his previous summation with reference to wastes as follows: "A lost-time accident is evidence of an economic waste." That the economic waste entailed by occupational accidents is chargeable to industry is well substantiated by the fact that all but four states (Mississippi, South Carolina, Florida and Arkansas) now have workingmen's liability and compensation laws.

Jan 1, 1933

By J. E. Lamar

THAT Illinois is an important mineral producing state is well known. A value of over $237,000,000 for the mineral products in 1926 indicates the magnitude of the industries. Coal mining is the largest mineral industry, and the value of its product was about 63 per cent of the total mineral production of the state. Oil and gas constituted about 8 per cent and the non-metallic minerals about 29 per cent. This 29 per cent represents the production of a varied group of mineral industries of wide geographic distribution through the state.

Jan 1, 1929

By FREDERICK C. BROWN

THE practice of fine-grinding is now being so successfully - carried on in some fields, notably in West Australia, and its advisability has been so frequently pointed out' that the matter in this paper is not put forward as being new ; its chief object being to call attention to the importance of fine-grinding in the treatment of comparatively low-grade ores. I have been engaged during the last five years in the cyanide-treatment of ores in the Ohinemuri district (North Island), New Zealand, and I consider that, in the near future, extremely fine-grinding (almost sliming) will become a very important feature of the milling-methods in this field, since it seems absolutely necessary to reduce the most of ores to a very fine state of division if a high extraction is to be obtained; and, in most cases, the extra percentage of saving will leave a good margin above the increased cost of treatment due both to the fine-grinding and to the interest on the capital spent for the grinding-machinery. The average ore of the Ohinemuri field is composed of a quartz-gangue with some calcite, carrying the gold-value in the form of an alloy of gold and silver in about equal proportions, and the silver-value in the form of mixed sulphides of silver, usually associated with a considerable amount of iron pyrites. In the upper levels, the ores are decomposed and carry large quantities of black manganese oxide and some iron oxide, but, as. depth is reached, the decomposed ore gives place to sulphides and, in some mines, rhodonite, manganese silicate, is present in fairly large quantities. The average value of the

Jan 1, 1906

By T. R. Armstrong

Total crude oil production in Mexico in the year 1941 is estimated at approxi- mately 41,000,000 bbl.; a daily average of 112,700 bbl. and a decrease of about 5 per cent as compared with the daily average of 120,000 bbl. produced in the year 1940, and nearly 11 per cent decrease as com-

Jan 1, 1942

By T. R. Armstrong

Total crude oil production in Mexico in the year 1941 is estimated at approxi- mately 41,000,000 bbl.; a daily average of 112,700 bbl. and a decrease of about 5 per cent as compared with the daily average of 120,000 bbl. produced in the year 1940, and nearly 11 per cent decrease as com-

Jan 1, 1942

By H. A. Pearse

NORMALLY, the Britannia ore mixture contains chalcopyrite and pyrite as the chief sulfide minerals, together with minor amounts of gold and silver and a low zinc content. Reduction is accomplished by jaw crushers underground, followed at the concentrating plant by Symons cone crushers, rolls, and ball mills. The standard flotation practice, evolved during several years of experimentation, provided for bulk flotation of the two sulfides, after primary grinding to only approximately 35 mesh, followed by regrinding of the bulk concentrate, with subsequent separation of the chalcopyrite and pyrite to make a marketable concentrate of each mineral. This so-called standard milling practice has previously been described in detail in U. S. Bureau of Mines Information Circular 6619. A modification will he discussed here. In the face of a constantly increasing world surplus of copper and a steadily falling price during 1930 and 1931, it was obviously undesirable to continue unprofitable production of large quantities of this metal. On the other hand, company officials were

Jan 1, 1934

By William N. Poundstone

What attracts young engineering graduates into the coal industry? What do these young men expect of a career in coal mining? These questions are often asked and debated by mining men throughout the country. In order to present a comprehensive answer to them, an opinion survey was conducted at West Virginia University's School of Mines among the junior and senior classes and part of the sophomore class. The tabulation of the answers showed that the present-day mining engineering student is an older, more mature individual as compared with former years and as compared with other present-day college students. The average age of the country's record-breaking 150,000 college graduates is 24 years. Among this year's mining graduates at West Virginia University, 78% are of this age or older. Over half (54%) of those polled in the survey are married. This is com- pared to 30% as a national figure. Of those married, 38% have one child and over 6% have two children. The entire senior group covered by this survey has averaged almost three years in the armed forces. An article entitled "The Class of '49" in the June issue of Fortune magazine states that this year's class is the oldest, most mature class in history. Our survey indicates that the mining engineering students at West Virginia University are well above the average in this respect.

Jan 1, 1949

By Notman, Arthur

THIS is a day of surpluses, some good and some not so good. One can hardly pick up a newspaper, magazine, review or economic treatise without confronting the fact that we have or are threatened with more .of certain goods than we have use for, whether it be corn, wheat, cotton, coal or oil, -lumber, 'leather, newsprint, automobiles, zinc, lead, copper or what not. How did this unprecedented state of affairs arise? Who is to blame? How shall we avoid smothering ourselves in our own production? The voice of the farmer is raised in appeal to the Government to relieve him from the dilemma of his own fertility. In answer the Government employs thousands of experts and spends millions of dollars to aid the farmer. But to what end? To make him still more efficient so that he may produce even greater surpluses? Not satisfied with the result, it spends other millions to prepare vast areas of the arid land of the West for more farmers to cultivate and insure yet larger surpluses. Then what? Naturally another appeal to the Government to fix prices by financing the

Jan 1, 1928

By J. G. Thompson

PROJECT 8411 of the U. S. Bureau of Standards, sponsored by the Iron and Steel Division of the A.I.M.E., is an attempt to define more concisely than has been possible heretofore the accuracy and the Limits ' of usefulness of the ' various methods now in use for the determination of oxygen as it exists in ferrous materials. It originated in correspondence between John Johnston and other metallurgists, and was brought to the attention of the Iron and Steel Division of the Institute at the Annual Meeting in February, 1933. As reported in MINING AND MET,ALLURGY, Vol. 14, page 152, March, 1933, "Dr. Johnston introduced, and those present adopted, a resolution that the Iron and Steel Division of the A.I.M.E., believing that a careful comparison of the several methods now in use for the analysis of steel for nonmetallic elements such as oxygen is highly desirable, heartily endorses the proposal that the U. S. Bureau of Standards act as a clearing house " in this matter, undertaking the final preparation and allocation of identical samples to those laboratories willing to collaborate in this important question, and collate the results re- ported back to the Bureau.'"

Jan 1, 1934

By AIME AIME

HIS many admirers regard the "official"' candidate for president of the Institute in 1934 as far above the average in ability and capacity; but perhaps his outstanding characteristic is dependability. Some men of great brilliance succeed indifferently because they cannot be relied upon. When Howard Nichols Eavenson undertakes to do something he either does it, or he proves to his own satisfaction that the particular object is not attainable. And the latter outcome is exceptional because his judgment is so good that he generally foresees the impossibility and selects in advance a practical alternative. Though a tireless worker he is pretty sure that his energy is not spent futilely.

Jan 1, 1933

By C. A. Fisher

THE Salt Creek Oil Field of Wyoming occupies a unique position among the major oil fields of this country. Many years before the beginning of actual production in this area, in 1911, it had attracted country-wide attention as a district holding oil possi¬bilities. Even foreign capital, mainly French and Belgian, had sought out this district as having oil values and spent many thousands of dollars 'in an effort to acquire property rights' in this field which was very largely located on the public domain. Owing to inadequate laws governing the acquisition of oil lands on the Federal domain and a careless practice having grown up among oil land locators of that time, a complicated title situation quickly developed in Salt Creek. This condition of uncertain titles together with the isolation of the field from industrial centers were doubtless the two most potent factors in retarding its early development. After actual production began in 1911 governmental regulations, suits between the government, and the locator, disputed ownerships between locators and claim and counterclaim continued to retard the field's development. It is believed that the title situation in the Salt Creek Field, where potential values of such magnitudes were involved, was responsible more than any other factor for the ultimate passage of the government leasing act in 1920 affecting all oil lands on the Federal domain.

Jan 1, 1925

By Scott Turner

MY YEAR OF SERVICE as president of the A.I.M.E. came at a time when the mineral industry had suffered severely because of disturbed economic conditions throughout the world. The Institute, an integral part of this industry, had been similarly affected. Its membership and revenues decreased; it was confronted by problems of retrenchment at a time when its vigorous operation was especially important to its members, of some moment to the mining industry, and of value to the nation. Throughout the last year, the recession of activity in our industry continued with slight abatement. Your Board accordingly exercised such economy within the Institute as was possible without impairment of essential functions. It endeavored to aid in sustaining the morale of members, their sense of professional unity, and their interest in maintaining research and the interchange of scientific and technologic data upon which the progress of our industry depends. Effort was made to assist in the difficult task of finding employment for needy members; our endeavors have met with some success.

Jan 1, 1933

By O. W. Shimer, D. C. Helms, C. E. Brown

THE early history and progress of anthracite stripping, from the first known operation at Summit Hill in 1821 through 1917, was covered in 1917 in a paper by J. B. Warriner,1 then chief engineer, now president of the Lehigh Navigation Coal Co., and stripping methods between 1917 and 1931 were the subject of a paper in 1931 by H. H. Otto,2 of the Hudson Coal Company. The present paper is confined to methods used today on pitching beds in the western middle and southern anthracite fields. The anthracite industry, not unlike other large industries, had been affected for more than a decade by the adverse economic conditions of the country. High development and operating costs and the competition of other fuels caused some collieries to be closed temporarily, while others were permanently abandoned. In order to obtain a larger tonnage at a lower development cost, a larger stripping program was put into effect by many companies. In 1932, stripping operations accounted for 334 million tons, or 7 per cent of the total anthracite production of the year, and in the next 10 years this increased until more than double that amount, or over 14 per cent of the total production, was from stripping operations. These figures represent the total production of the entire anthracite region; unfortunately, the figures have not been separated from the different fields. There are some operations in the southern and middle western fields where the tonnage obtained from stripping amounts to more than 30 per cent of the total colliery production. Stripping operations on pitching beds present difficult problems. Owing to the various geological formations, a different situation is encountered in nearly every stripping pit; and because of the proximity of an overlying bed, it is very often necessary to load the entire overburden into trucks and haul it out of the pit to the dump area, although back filling and casting is done whenever possible. Beds in the areas described in this paper pitch from 20° to 90° and some are on the invert in, many sharp folds and faults. PLANNING The more successful strippings have had adequate engineering analysis. Some work is being done without much preliminary planning, but many strippings would have failed completely if close supervision by the engineering department had not been maintained. Locations of stripping areas are determined as follows: 1. By constructing cross sections over the areas and drilling sufficient diamond-drill or well drill holes to study the strata and to determine the location, thickness and pitch of the beds.

Jan 1, 1944

By H. E. Kramm

(New York Meeting, February, 1919.) DURING the summer of 1911, I had the opportunity to study in detail the geological conditions of what is known in northern California as " Harrison gulch," in Shasta county. Though the district, as a whole, that is, the western part of Shasta and the eastern part of Trinity county, has contributed during the last 15 years a considerable share of the gold-production credited to Shasta county, very little is known of its geology, perhaps because the country is covered with a dense growth of brush which makes exploration and prospecting extremely difficult. Topographically the district presents a succession of ridges trending approximately N-S.; and alternating with deep narrow canyons. The drainage is partly into . the Sacramento, partly into the Trinity river. Climatic conditions in summer time are almost ideal. It is true, the thermometer may climb to 115°, but the air is dry and the heat is bearable, especially as the nights are always cool. It seldom rains during the summer months, and creeks and springs dry out towards the end of the summer. The winter is severe, lasting from November to April, and usually a thick layer of snow covers the mountains. By reason of the character of its gold-deposits, the region is known to miners as "the pocket country." It contains a series ?of eruptive rocks intruded into slates, cherts, limestones, and conglomerates. Dikes, laccoliths, and batholiths are frequent. In a day's ride it is possible to find all the common igneous rocks from the very acid to the very basic. Serpentines are especially abundant.. The sedimentary rocks are, as rule, broken and shattered as well as folded, and show the effects of intense metamorphism. ? Pocket-hunters " speak of the contact of diabase and slate as the ? pocket-contact." Some rich gold-pockets, however, have also been found in the diabase.

Jul 1, 1912

By W. H. Blauvelt

THE subject of fuel-briquetting has attracted much attention on the part of engineers and investors for the past 15 or 20 years, and especially in recent years, during which a number of plants have been built, with more or less commercial and technical success. Our technical literature contains numerous descriptions of certain processes, and discussions of the industry in general. For a history of the development of the art in the United States, and for descriptions of many of the processes which have been tried, reference may be made to the files of our Transactions, and, for more recent information, to a paper by C. T. Malcolmson, read before the First Annual Convention of the International Railway Fuel Association in June, 1909. The purpose of the present paper is to describe the briquette-plant of the Solvay Process Co. and the Semet-Solvay Co. at Detroit, Mich., which, after a period of long and costly evolution, is now operating satisfactorily on a commercial basis. I believe that it will be of interest to some of our members to have the details of operation, lower-consumption, labor, etc., as worked out on a practical and commercial scale in a going operation. The briquette industry has had a somewhat checkered career in the United States, and much the larger portion of the failures has been due entirely to commercial causes. It seems axiomatic to say that before undertaking the installation of a plant for manufacturing briquettes it is necessary that the local situation should be carefully examined : First, to determine the kind of briquettes, if any, the local market will consume; that is-to say, whether the available fuel-supply is such that briquettes would be a welcome addition, and whether the most promising field is the industrial or the domestic market. Second, if there is an available supply of raw material, as coal,

Mar 1, 1910

By Charles Will Wright

I. INTRODUCTION. THE application of the camera as an adjunct to topographic mapping began practically with its invention, and it has been employed with varying success since that time. With the exception of the camera to be described, the plate-camera has been universally used in this work, thus giving a projection of the area photographed on a flat surface. From such projections or photographs, by the rules of geometry and of perspective, points defining topographic features and seen from at least two camera-stations may be projected upon a ground-plane-the map.1 In 1904 I employed the plate-camera for this purpose in Alaska, but found that the labor necessary to plot the maps, even in a general way, was long and tedious. In 1905 a small Eastman panoramic camera was fitted with spirit-levels, a sightalidade and a transparent scale, introduced inside the camera to register the degree-points in the sky-line of the film-negative; also, arrows to indicate the horizon-line. This was, on the whole, successful; but the details in the topography were not brought out in the views with sufficient clearness, and the photographs were too small. These difficulties were overcome by obtaining a larger and more carefully constructed instrument, which was satisfactorily employed in the field during the year 1906. A panoramic view is made up of an integral number of perspective views upon flat surfaces, and logically is the most ac-

Jan 1, 1908

Resistant Tape A new oil-resistant tape for rapid insulation build-up on splices in large power cables has been announced by Minnesota Mining & Mfg. Co. Designated Scotch brand electrical tape No. 25 is made of synthetic rubber providing greater dielectric strength and resistance to high temperatures. The chemical-resistant qualities of the tape make it suitable for use in oil drilling, mining and underground [ ] cable operations, while the 40-mil thickness and extreme stretch (1500 pct breaking point) make possible smooth insulation wraps on irregular surfaces. Dielectric strength is 15,000 v and 10,000 v at 500 pct elongation. It has an electrolytic corrosion factor of 1.0 and an insulation resistance of 100,000 megohms. Circle No. 1 Hydra-Lift The Pitman Mfg. Co. announces that is now has in production a new model of the Pitman hydra-lift, recently-developed crane with hydraulically-powered boom that can be mounted on the frame of any truck, 1 ½ tons or larger. According to the manufacturer, the new model hydralift model B features a variety of improvements over the original production model, introduced late in 1950. Changes incorporated in the new model, according to officials, not only have resulted in improved crane, but also have given the unit a new profile which distinguishes it sharply from the original model. The two chief improvements in the new model are: a big increase in the unit's safety margin and the fact that it is now shipped almost completely preassembled, cutting the time and cost of installation. Rated capacities of the hydra-lift are based on the tipping factor of a 1 1/2 ton truck, with outriggers down, and thus have not been increased. Circle No. 2

Jan 1, 1952